Across the Universe
by The Other Sara
Summary: Next gen/crossover of different series. Fourteen years after Sora's final journey, his assumed successor must help bring the current war between light and darkness to a grinding halt. But everything comes at price... and this one will be heavy.
1. Prologue

WARNING: The following contains OCs, crossover of different worlds, violence, character death and language. If you are uncomfortable by such, then you are free to hit the back button.**  
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><p><strong>The Second War of Light and Darkness<br>**

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><p><strong>Prologue<strong>

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><p><em>Fourteen years ago...<em>

Within the abyss that housed the Door to Darkness, the sounds of panting and struggling could be heard. The constant throbbing from Sora's wounds as well as his exhaustion made it hard for him to stand. He was pretty sure that his comrades and friends, Riku, Aqua, Ventus, Donald, Goofy and King Mickey were all feeling the same way, as they too took quite a beating. Their opponent was more powerful than the now-adult Keyblade master could have comprehended; there was hardly a scratch on him. But Sora wasn't ready to give up and let this new menace, Strax, win this fight. Every world was at stake, including his homeworld of Destiny Islands.

"Do you now see?" asked the masked man, known as Strax. "Even with your combined powers, you are all simply mere wasps in my face. Your efforts were all for naught."

The masked man turned around to face the towering door.

"Now! Door to Darkness! Grant me access to the ultimate power! Grant me access to Kingdom Hearts!"

"That's not gonna happen..." muttered Sora, who finally managed to get back on his feet. "As long as I'm still breathing... I won't let it end like this!"

With that, Sora pointed his Kingdom Key at Strax and a beam of light shot out from the tip and penetrated the area of his back where his heart should have been. Strax screamed in pain and clutched his heart, collapsing to his knees in the process. But that wasn't enough to stop the masked man from opening the Door to Darkness. With whisps of black smoke pouring through the cracks, the door slowly opened, revealing the dimly lit Realm of Darkness inside. There, thousands of Heartless were waiting and preparing to charge out of the door to feast on their enemies' hearts. Strax chuckled weakly and slowly stood up, almost losing his balance a couple of times.

"You may have managed to injure my heart," he said. "But you are too late... the door has been opened."

Strax then disappeared from sight. Sora blinked in confusion. Why was he retreating? The man was so close to killing them all off and getting what he wanted. That was when he realized that it was part of his plan: Strax wanted the Heartless to devour their hearts so that he would have nobody to stop him from going to Kingdom Hearts. Sora started limping towards the door.

"Come on, guys!" he said. "We have to close it!"

"But the only way the door can close is if..." started King Mickey whose voice then trailed off. "Wait, you're not really gonna..."

"Someone has to," said Sora. "But I can't close it on my own. I need you to stand on the outside of the door and seal it while I lock it from the inside."

"What?" asked Riku. "You moron! You'll be killed in there!"

But Sora kept walking.

"I know," he said softly. "But it has to be done."

Soon, Sora was past the doors and began using whatever strength he had left to try and move the heavy and enormous doors. Aqua then started walking over to him.

"Aqua?" asked Ventus.

"It's the only way, Ven," said Aqua. "Even though I don't want to see any more of my friends die... I... Sora and the King are the only ones with the keys to close the door. I can't just stand by and do nothing!"

"But... dammit!" snapped Ven, walking after Aqua.

"Gawrsh," said Goofy. "Guess we don't have a choice."

"Yeah..." muttered Donald sadly.

Donald and Goofy started walking too, as did Mickey, but not before turning to Riku.

"Riku?" he asked.

Riku gave the king a sad and weak smile.

"I'm fine." he said. "Let's go..."

With that, everyone walked to the door and started helping Sora close it. Sora could hear the Heartless growing restless as everyone pushed (or in his case, pulled) the colossal doors shut with all of their might. It was only a matter of time before they got real hungry and attacked. Soon, one of the doors was closed all the way. But before the second door was closed Sora stopped pulling for a second, catching Riku, Mickey and Donald off guard.

"What's wrong, Sora?" asked Riku.

Sora smiled sadly.

"Just like old times, huh...?" he reminisced. "Only it was you on this side and me on the other."

He then looked to his old friend.

"Riku... take care of them."

With teary eyes, Riku nodded and helped Sora close the last door. Once his friends were out of view, Sora pointed the Kingdom Key high into the dark sky shooting out another beam of light. But as the Heartless stirred, he grew impatient.

"Come on, Your Majesty," he murmured. "Hurry up."

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the Door to Darkness disappeared on his side; King Mickey successfully helped him seal the door away. Relieved, Sora dropped his keyblade and collapsed to the ground, his strength fully drained. The Heartless then began to descend upon him like wild rabid hungry pack animals. He was so tired that he couldn't bring himself to fight them.

"So this is how it ends, hmm?" asked Sora with a smile.

As the Heartless got closer and closer Sora laughed... and did so even when they began to eat his heart.

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><p><strong>Author's notes<strong>: I've always wanted to write a next generation Kingdom Hearts fic, so here it is! Terra, Eraqus, Xehanort and Kairi's absence from the prologue will be explained later in the story. As for my other fics, I'm working on the first chapter of my Sengoku Basara fic, _The Tale of Gyoda's Blooming Lotus_, and should be finished with it soon. As for my Transformers fic, _Transformers: Ignition_, I'm working out the kinks to the next chapter as we speak. So no, not all of my fics are dead. I've just been busy lately. Hope you enjoyed this prologue!


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

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><p><em>Fourteen years later...<em>

"Yoko!" called Kairi from downstairs. "Time to get up!"

The only response from the dim and messy room was the sound of Yoko moaning with disatisfaction. Kairi sighed. It was like this every school day; it would take forever for her daughter to wake up. The now-older-and-wiser red head only wished that the girl would be more responsible and actually get up when required. But sadly, that was not the case.

Kairi walked across the room, trying not to trip over the piles of clothes scattered everywhere and opened the blinds in front of the window that was beside Yoko's bed. The sun's rays flooded the room with light, prompting another groan, only this one was louder and more whiny. Kairi frowned and placed her hands on her hips. As if sensing her mother's pesence, Yoko finally lifted her face from her pillow and looked at Kairi sleepily, her long, light brown hair an absolute mess.

"What is it?" she muttered.

"Young lady, do you have any idea what time it is?" asked Kairi.

Yoko looked at the hot pink alarm clock on her night stand.

"Uhhh... seven oh-five in the morning?" she replied. "Why is it so early?"

"If you don't get up now, you'll be late for your first day of school."

"School..."

Yoko then made a half smile.

"Oh yeah..."

She then flopped back on the bed.

"Good night."

"I think not!" snapped Kairi as she pulled off Yoko's bed covers.

"Unggh, alright, alright, I'm up." muttered Yoko, who then yawned as she got out of bed.

After Yoko had walked inside her bathroom to take a shower, Kairi sighed. But then she made a warm smile.

'_Just like her father..._' she reminisced.

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><p>After Yoko had finished getting ready for the day and ate breakfast, she ran out the door, heading towards the school. The school itself was a couple of islands away, but that wasn't much of a problem seeing that there were now long wooden bridges that connected them. The bridges were built as a more convenient way to travel and to save space for the other boats. Some still traveled by boat, but Yoko chose to take the bridge that day.<p>

She didn't want to go to school. It was so... tedious; there was always too much work. It was a drag to the brunette. She'd rather be hanging out with her friends on the island where all of the kids played. Yoko had skipped school a couple times... and let's just say her mother wasn't too happy about it. Oh well. It was fun at the time.

Anyway, upon arriving at the massive school, Yoko managed to run into a friend of hers among the crowd of students; a tall boy around her age with slightly spiky blond hair and a black tattoo on his face.

"Hey, Zell!" called Yoko.

"Yoko! What's up?" grinned Zell as Yoko approached him.

"Eh, not much," Yoko replied. "Where are Rex and Blank?"

"Probably running late as usual," shrugged Zell. "You look beat."

"Yeah, I didn't get to bed till around midnight." replied Yoko.

"Why? Were you busy writing that love letter to your future boyfriend?" teased Zell.

"N-No! Shut up! I was not! Besides, he'd never go out with me... he's way out of my league."

"Well, ya never know till you try right?"

Zell slapped Yoko on the back. He then looked away, as if noticing something.

"Oh look! There he is now!"

Yoko looked in the direction Zell was looking to see a boy that had short black hair, very tanned skin and serious brown eyes. That was the boy of Yoko's dreams; Vikram was his name. Although he looked a couple years older than he was, he was still Yoko and Zell's age. Yoko's heart began to pound against her chest. She backed away a couple of steps.

"Oh c'mon!" said Zell. "You're not gonna talk to him?"

"D-Don't be stupid! Like I said, he's out of my league, being the captain of the blitzball team and all." snapped Yoko.

Zell walked behind her and shoved her towards Vikram.

"Go get 'em!" he said.

Yoko gasped as she bumped right into her crush, knocking them both down.

"Ah! I am so sorry, Vikram!" yelped Yoko frantically as she scrambled to her feet.

She shot a fierce glare at Zell, who merely shrugged in a sheepish manner. She then turned back to Vikram, offering to help him up.

"Thanks." said Vikram, taking the brunette's hand.

Yoko blushed as she pulled him up, realizing that it was his hand she was holding. She blushed even harder when she found herself gazing into his stern eyes. He blinked in response, as if noticing something off about her. He then looked at his hand; she was still holding it.

"Uh... you can let go of my hand now." said Vikram.

Yoko's blue eyes moved downward to notice that she was still holding his hand.

"Oh! Umm, sorry." said Yoko, embarrassed as she let go.

An awkward pause occurred between the two.

"Uh... uhh..." mumbled Yoko, trying to start a conversation. "Nice weather recently, huh?"

"Yeah..." nodded Vikram. "But I hear that there's going to be a storm soon."

"Oh... is that so?"

"Yeah..."

Another awkward pause.

"So, why did you come over here? Is there something you wanted to tell me?" asked Vikram.

This was it, Yoko thought. The big moment; the part where she would profess her love to her crush since the third grade. She felt her heart swell with anxiety as it began to beat faster. Her face got redder with each second passing by. She had to do this now. Otherwise, some girl would steal him away and Yoko would regret it forever. After a quick sigh, Yoko managed to actually speak.

"Vikram... er..." she stuttered. "Will you... do you..."

Suddenly, the school bell rung, startling her.

"We can talk about it after school, okay?" Vikram said, giving her a small smile.

"'K-Kay!" Yoko replied.

As the students from kindergarten to the twelfth grade (since there wasn't any room to put four separate schools on four separate islands, they had to make one big school) rushed inside to their classes, Yoko watched as her love interest walked towards the middle school building, dismayed over the awkward conversation that had ocurred. Zell walked up to her and elbowed her in the arm hard enough to make her say "Ow!".

"What's your deal?" asked Zell. "You can talk to guys like regular human beings, but you can't talk to a boy you like?"

"It's not like that!" said Yoko. "I just get nervous around him, that's all. It's like, I don't know what to say."

"Eh, you'll get over it," said Zell casually. "Why don't you try showing a little more passion...? You know, like me!"

"Easier said than done," muttered Yoko, who then realized something. "Oh! We should hurry and get to class."

"Right! I'll race ya!" nodded Zell, who then ran off, laughing.

"Wha...?" asked Yoko "Hey! That's not fair! You're a faster runner than I am!"

But regardless, she ran after him.

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><p>The schoolyard brought back memories; memories of happier days during his youth. From on the roof of the main school building, Riku looked down at the now empty school grounds below from his black coat, thinking back on old times. But when he noticed storm clouds nearly covering the bright and warm sun, Riku snapped out of it. He remembered why he had to return to the islands. He had a mission and he had to do it fast. The islands were once again no longer safe for anyone. He made a vow to protect Kairi and Yoko in Sora's absence. And protect them he would.<p>

He heard several Heartless suddenly appeared behind him, taking the man by surprise. They had arrived earlier than he had expected. Nonetheless, Riku summoned his Keyblade, the Way to the Dawn and turned to face his enemies. He sliced at the first Heartless that came at him, causing it to disappear into nothingness. The next few Heartless charged but with simple dodging and slashing techniques, he was able to defeat them without effort. But Riku knew these weren't the only Heartless that were going to arrive.

"I have to hurry." Riku muttered to himself, running towards the school stairs that would lead him down to the entrance.

She was in one of these buildings somewhere. Riku couldn't remember how old Yoko was. He assumed that she between the ages of fourteen and sixteen. So that would've meant she was in the middle school or the high school building. Riku had to get them off of the islands; her and Kairi both.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

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><p>Looking out the window, Yoko was surprised by how quickly the storm clouds blanketed the sun. She thought that clouds such as those would take a while to arrive. But it looked like the storm would start sooner than she expected. But that wasn't the only thing that was off. Yoko saw strange figures running around the schoolyard. One of them she was sure was a man, but the others... she couldn't tell what they were. To her, they sort of looked like shadowy giant ants. Yoko then heard the sound of something crashing against her desk, startling her. Yelping, she turned to see that it was a textbook.<p>

"Yoko," said her teacher. "Please try to pay attention. This lesson is crucial to completing your homwork."

"S-Sorry." said Yoko sheepishly, who then quickly came up with an excuse to go outside. "Uh, do you think I can go to the nurse's office? I'm not feeling well."

The teacher sighed.

"Alright, but you better not be trying to skip school again."

"That was only two times..." mumbled Yoko as she got up from her desk and left the classroom.

Instead of going to the nurse's office though, Yoko headed right outside of the middle school building, curious to see what was going on. The creatures Yoko saw made her hairs stand on end and fear began to loom over her. The man she saw from the window was wearing a strange black coat and wielding a rather unique sword. Or at least, she thought it was a sword. He seemed exhausted. Had he been fighting the shadowy creatures? As she watched from a distance, one of the shadow creatures noticed her and began scurrying in her direction. Yoko started to back away from it.

"S-Stay back!" she shouted. "Don't come any closer!"

But the creature still persisted. When it came close enough to her, it leaped, trying to attack. Yoko flinched, bracing herself for any pain that was to come her way. But it didn't come. Yoko opened her eyes to see that the man in the black coat was standing in front of her with his blade out... and there was no sign of the monster that tried to attack her. The man panted as if exhausted. He then dropped his "sword" and fell to his knees. He was grasping his side, but Yoko didn't know why. When she peered a bit closer, she realized that the man was bleeding.

"About..." said the man, panting. "About time I found you."

"Wha..." asked Yoko. "Who are you?"

"Heh, no wonder you don't remember me. I haven't seen you since you were a baby."

The man looked up at her.

"It's been a while... Yoko."

"How do you know my name?" demanded a startled Yoko.

"I'll explain later. For now, we need to get out of here," replied the man. "Where's your mother?"

"You know mo-" started Yoko.

"I said where's your mother?" interrupted the man.

Yoko flinched from the man's tone of voice when he asked again. He didn't shout, but he was still sharp. After a pause, Yoko answered.

"She's running the shop at home." said Yoko.

"Alright." said the man, slowly standing up.

"Wait, I don't think you should-" said Yoko.

"I'm fine," insisted the man, cutting the brunette off. "It's been a while since I've been home, so you're going to have to show me the way."

"What about school?"

"There's no time to be thinking about that. We have to move."

"...This way." said Yoko sprinting off towards the bridge, the man following her close behind.

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><p>Destiny Islands was in chaos. The citizens were running around panicking at the sight of the Heartless. Some managed to fight them off. Others weren't so lucky.<p>

As the two advanced their way to the main island, Riku struggled to keep the Heartless away from Yoko as he followed her. Whenever a Heartless came at her, he would dash over to where she was and slice at them, causing them to disappear. This continued while crossing the two bridges that connected to the main He was exhausted; he had been fighting all day. And the wound he received on his side wasn't making it any better. He just hoped he could last long enough to get Yoko and Kairi off the islands. He had to. Riku wished he could save all of the residents of Destiny Islands, but he was afraid that he wouldn't be able to save them all. So he would do what he could. But for the time being, his main focus was saving Kairi and Yoko. Once Riku and Yoko arrived on the main island, they immediately found Kairi within the midst of the chaos.

"Mom!" cried Yoko.

"Yoko!" Kairi responded, running over to the two and embracing her child. "Thank goodness you're alright."

"It's been some time, Kairi." said Riku, pulling back his hood to reveal his long silver-white hair and stern facial features.

"...Riku?" asked Kairi.

"Riku?" asked a confused Yoko.

Riku nodded.

"We don't have much time. The two of you need to leave this place before it's too late."

Kairi noticed the wound on his side.

"But you're hurt! Come on, let's get you to a doctor first."

"Not now Kairi! I need to get you both out of here."

He took Kairi by the hand and dragged her along with Yoko following behind.

"Hey! Wait up!" shouted Yoko.

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><p>They ran across yet another bridge leading to the island where all of the children played. As soon as they arrived there, a large tremor ensued, Yoko tripped and her face soon met the soft sand. After a small groan and flipping over on her back, she saw a shadow creature that was more massive than the other ones. This one was a humanoid giant and had a huge gaping hole in it in the shape of a heart. Yoko felt panic take her as she struggled to scoot away from it. She shook with fear and beads of sweat poured down her face. The monster then made its advance towards her. Yoko closed her eyes.<p>

"Wake up..." she muttered. "Wake up... this is all just a bad dream... _please_ let it be a bad dream..."

"Yoko!" cried a familiar voice.

Yoko opened her eyes to see Kairi standing in front of her, facing the huge beast... and holding a beautifully colored key-shaped sword, just like Riku's, only different in design.

"...Mom?" asked Yoko.

"Yoko, get up!" ordered Kairi.

Yoko did as she was told, but that didn't ease her fears.

"Kairi!" called Riku. "Get you and your kid out of here! We can't fight them all at once."

Kairi reluctantly dropped her guard. She grabbed Yoko's hand and ran off with her towards Riku, who was nearly surrounded by Heartless, save for an opening in their circle. Much to Yoko's surprise, Kairi cut down any of the shadow creatures that launched themselves at them. The girl never expected her mother to be gifted in the ways of the sword... if that thing she was holding was a sword, anyway. But it only got stranger when three winged shadow creatures tried to attack them from mid-air. In response, Kairi shot spheres of fire from the tip of her weapon. When the two arrived where Riku was, the circle was closed off, trapping everyone that was inside it. After knocking a couple of Heartless back with his weapon, he waved his hand, summoning a portal of darkness.

"Go," he said. "I'll hold them off."

"What about you?" asked Kairi. "What about everyone else."

"I'll be fine... and I'll do what I can." replied Riku. "Now get out of here!"

Yoko saw that, although her mother was reluctant, she nodded, as if agreeing to something. Kairi then pulled Yoko with her in the portal.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

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><p>The map of the Valley of Castles was littered with pieces representing the Allied Armies and their enemies, the Schism. The meeting in the war room dragged on, with the topic mainly concerning the Schism's current whereabouts. In the past week, they haven't made a single move. In fact, everyone had wondered whether they were there at all. The scouts found no signs of them anywhere on the world. But King Mickey knew deep down that they were still there; waiting for the proper time to strike. This fact alone had left some people in paranoia. He didn't blame them.<p>

"...Thus, I believe we should build up our defenses as quickly as possible." continued one of the generals.

"But we don't have enough men! We have lost so many in the past few months to those damn Heartless," stated Ventus. "I say we recruit more people before the Schism comes out of hiding."

"But what if they attack before we can get enough people?" asked Aqua who then turned to the King. "What say you, Your Majesty?"

"Ven is right," replied Mickey. "We need more soldiers. But, knowing the Schism's leader, he may end up starting a fight or two soon. But how soon is the question. Hmm... if only we had an inside source."

"So, what should we do?" asked Ven.

Suddenly, the doors to the war room opened wide. A soldier charged in, out of breath. He saluted the generals.

"Generals!" he said. "I have urgent news from one of our scouting parties."

"Heartless?" asked the King.

"No," replied the soldier. "At least, we don't believe so. There's some sort of a dark portal not too far from here, in one of the ruins. Captain Cecil has already taken a squad to investigate."

"Right, I will join him then." nodded Aqua.

"Careful, Aqua," warned the King. "It may be a trap."

Aqua turned to him and smiled.

"There's no need to worry, Your Majesty. I'll be fine.

That was what concerned the mouse king. Usually, when things such as that occurred, there was often an ambush involved. The Schism's Heartless were masters of guerrilla warfare. But of course, that was only because their leaders were there to guide the mindless beasts. As Aqua left, the King sighed. This war was far too stressful than it needed to be.

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><p>From out of the portal came Kairi and Yoko. The world they were on was a place that Kairi was not familiar with. They were in the ruins of some town with a crumbling castle situated behind it. It looked like nobody had inhabited the place in some time. Where was it that Riku was trying to send them to? Interrupting her thoughts, she heard a noise and turned around to see that the portal had closed behind them.<p>

"Riku..." she whispered.

Kairi hoped that her old friend was alright. It had been fourteen years since she last saw him. She had missed him... and although she was happy to see him again, she wished the circumstances were different. But the woman had to remain strong for Yoko's sake. Kairi turned to her daughter, who appeared to be in quite a shock.

"Are you all right?" asked Kairi concerned.

"Mom..." said Yoko. "What... just happened? This is a dream, right?"

"Yoko..." said Kairi.

Kairi put her hands on Yoko's shoulders.

"I know this is confusing... and I know you're scared." she said soothingly. "But I'm counting on you to be strong, all right?"

"Kairi!" called a familiar voice.

Kairi looked up to see a woman with long blue hair tied in a braid, an athletic build and fair skin run up to the two with a group of what appeared to be soldiers following behind. Kairi instantly recognized the woman. She had helped her master a few spells and Keyblade techniques during the days when Sora and his friends were working together to defeat Xehanort. They hadn't seen each other since Yoko was a little baby.

"Aqua!" smiled Kairi. "It's been a while."

Yoko clinged to her mother's arm, terrified.

"It has," nodded Aqua, who then looked to Yoko. "Yoko! My goodness, it's been far too long! Look at you, you're practically all grown up."

Yoko started to cry, surprising both Aqua and Kairi.

"A-Are you all right?" asked Aqua, who then looked to Kairi. "What happened?"

"Our home was attacked... by Heartless," replied Kairi solemnly. "It's gone now."

"Don't say that!" shouted Yoko hysterically, letting go of her mother's arm and backing away. "It can't be gone! That's just not possible!"

"Yoko, calm down." said Kairi softly.

"Why is this happening?! Who was that guy? What were those things? Please tell me this is a dream!"

Kairi shook her head.

"...I'm sorry sweetie. I know it's hard to accept it, but... it's gone."

With that, Yoko ran off.

"Yoko, wait!" shouted Kairi.

"Should we give chase, General?" asked one of the soldiers to Aqua.

"Yes," said Aqua, who then pointed to a few soldiers. "You three, stay close to her. We don't want the Heartless attacking any innocents."

"Yes ma'am." said one of the soldiers, taking off with the other two.

"There are Heartless here?" asked a shocked Kairi.

Aqua's face turned grim and sorrowful.

"Kairi, there's a lot we need to talk about. Come with me."

"But-" said Kairi, turning in the direction where Yoko had run off.

"She'll be fine," Aqua reassured. "When she's ready, my men will escort her to our base."

The red head sighed.

"All right. I trust you."

* * *

><p>Within the ruins of the castle, Yoko sat in a dark and dusty room full of furniture and paintings covered in old blankets, crying her eyes out. She couldn't remember how long she had been inside of the place. She was scared. She wanted to wake up from this nightmare if it was one. Her home of Destiny Islands gone within a mere hour. The grotesque creatures that attacked the islands haunted her mind. The more she thought about what happened, the tighter she hugged her knees to her chest.<p>

"Hello? Is someone there?" asked a voice.

Startled, Yoko gasped and looked around.

"It sounds like someone's crying in this room." commented another voice.

"I'll go investigate." said a third voice.

"Captain, wait! What if it's a trap?" asked the first voice.

The third voice chuckled.

"Don't worry," he said. "I don't think the Schism would attack this soon."

Yoko gasped lightly. She felt the need to hide, but by the time the door opened, it was already too late. A man wearing dark armor walked in with several soldiers, noticing her huddled on the couch. Yoko lifted her face from her knees, revealing the tears and snot running down her face.

"A girl?" asked the man who then walked closer to her. "What are you doing here?"

Yoko squeezed her legs against her body as he got closer.

"It's all right," he said. "I will not hurt you."

Yoko sniffed.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"My name is Cecil," said the man who sat next to her. "Why are you crying?"

"I'm not crying." said Yoko rubbing her eyes.

A pause.

"Did something happen?" asked Cecil.

"Um..." replied Yoko.

Cecil put a hand on her shoulder.

"Take a deep breath and tell me what happened."

* * *

><p>It took a little bit, but Yoko managed to tell the entire story to the man. The Heartless, Riku, how Destiny Islands was destroyed, everything. The man, Cecil, paid attention to every detail that she described. He understood her plight; the Valley of Castles served as a refuge for those who had lost their worlds to the Heartless, as well as the main battleground for the war. But these recent events explained the Schism leader's intentions.<p>

"I see..." said Cecil. "I'm sorry..."

"No, it's fine." Yoko replied quietly.

Cecil stood up from the couch.

"Come with us." he said.

"Wha...?" asked a confused Yoko.

"I'm sure your mother is worried about you."

Before Yoko could respond, three more soldiers ran into the room, out of breath.

"Thank goodness... we found you..." panted the first soldier.

"We've... we've been looking everywhere for you..." said the second.

Cecil tilted his head a bit. He noticed the insignia on their gray armor; it was a sign that they were part of Master Aqua's troop. Each soldier was assigned to a general, commander or captain and they were given badges that indicated who was in whose squad so as to not confuse anybody.

"You three," Cecil spoke. "You are from Master Aqua's troop, yes?"

"Yes sir, captain," responded a third soldier that saluted him, exhausted. "We've been assigned to this kid here by General Aqua. Apparently, the girl's pretty good at hiding."

Before Cecil could say anything, several Heartless instantly appeared in the room, taking everyone by surprise. The young captain wasn't expecting this to happen. The Schism had not made a move on this world for a while.

"An ambush...?" Cecil quietly wondered.

Cecil drew his sword, as did the other soldiers. A Heartless leaped at him only to be cut down with ease. He took Yoko by the hand and pulled her off of the couch. They had to somehow fight the Heartless and get Yoko to safety. He looked to the three soldiers from Aqua's retinue.

"You three, take Yoko and get back to base." he ordered.

"But captain," said one of the soldiers, attacking a Heartless. "What about you?"

"My men and I will cover you," replied Cecil. "Now go!"

One of the soldiers led Yoko out of the room with the other two soldiers following behind.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes<strong>: Oh my God... guys... guys... guys I updated something finally. I'm so happy! I decided to pick up this old fic after losing inspiration for a while. Let's see how long said inspiration lasts. Also, to newcomers! I don't post that often, and if I try to do so, I lose inspiration rather fast. Hope you liked this chapter though!


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